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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28898787">Numb</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenusianLullaby/pseuds/VenusianLullaby'>VenusianLullaby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mage: The Ascension</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Past Abuse, Underage Drug Use</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:01:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28898787</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenusianLullaby/pseuds/VenusianLullaby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Edith Harvey, the *best* Syndicate journalist and a formidable Bane Seductress</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OFC/OFC (kinda), Original Female Character/Original Male Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You’re working<br/>
For eight hours or more,<br/>
And when you come home,<br/>
You’re too exhausted for anything<br/>
But watch TV.<br/>
I sit and watch it with you,<br/>
Tell you about my day.<br/>
You don’t ever tell me about yours,<br/>
You just say everything is good.<br/>
I learn to only speak of good things,<br/>
Never complain.<br/>
You don’t ask me for anything,<br/>
So I never ask you, too.<br/>
Here we are,<br/>
A mother and a daughter,<br/>
Afraid of looking imperfect to each other.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>High school years aren’t easy.<br/>
I work my ass off for As,<br/>
To get into a good college.<br/>
And being the prettiest girl in school<br/>
Makes it a little easy sometimes.<br/>
Smart boys will help you with a homework<br/>
Just for a kiss or a walk in the park.<br/>
(Sometimes they want more, but I keep my distance).<br/>
I despised that at first,<br/>
But I need both my brains and my looks to help me through in life.<br/>
Sure, I’ll get called a bitch, a slut, a whore,<br/>
But I’d rather be all of those than nothing at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This chapter features some heavily implied underage and underage drug use, as well as psychological abuse. Proceed with caution.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started great,<br/>Pretty flowers, sweet words;<br/>“I will not hurt you”.<br/>“You don't have to do this for me”.<br/>Months later, you drugged me against my will. <br/>I continued to take drugs with you,<br/>But I wasn’t intoxicated as easily as you.<br/>It made you mad. <br/>You came to my house, caused a scene,<br/>Called me a slut, a whore (I’ve heard it all before).<br/>Then, just in time, my mother came home.<br/>She told you to back off, <br/>Called the police on you,<br/>You ran.<br/>Mother asked me if I was alright;<br/>I was not, but I couldn’t tell her that. <br/>I was ashamed. <br/>She never asked for help, how could I?<br/>And when she tried to find a therapist for me,<br/>I said that I don’t need it, that I’m fine. <br/>She never talked to me again about it.<br/>And I continued to live.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Here I am, in the college;<br/>Working hard, obsessed with success, <br/>With being the best at everything. <br/>Strict schedule, not much time for friends <br/>Or for love. <br/>Eventually, I land a job <br/>Just a few years before graduation.<br/>It consumes most of my time,<br/>But I enjoy it.<br/>Editors say I have a natural talent, <br/>People I interviewed say <br/>“It’s like you can read my mind!”<br/>I shrug it off and laugh, <br/>“I just work really hard”,<br/>But I knew something was off.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A job offer you can’t refuse<br/>Is all it takes for your world to change.<br/>A few years after my graduation<br/>I joined the Technocratic Union.<br/>Hard work pays off here,<br/>So now I’m doing all I can<br/>To ensure the bright future for the Union,<br/>The Masses,<br/>And my own.<br/>Even when I’m exhausted,<br/>I still say that I’m okay,<br/>I will never show negative emotions,<br/>Because I don’t wanna be seen<br/>As just another “proof”<br/>That women are weak and irrational,<br/>And don’t deserve to be at the top.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A bunch of Technocrats went into the warehouse<br/>And got the weird beacon-computer.<br/>Then, a bunch of Technocrats went into a murder-mall,<br/>And killed a Marauder in it.<br/>And also got the last weird computer.<br/>After that, a bunch of Technocrats went into the Digital Web<br/>To interrogate the weird computers.<br/>I was among this bunch.<br/>And I hated everything about the spirit<br/>That lived inside of those things.<br/>She was way too perfect. <br/>(More perfect than me, but I’ll never say it out loud).<br/>She liked me, and I took advantage of that<br/>To get the information out of her.<br/>The fate of the world depended on me,<br/>And I did my job well (as always). <br/>Sure, now I got an admirer,<br/>But it’s not like it’s any different<br/>From other times.<br/>Right?<br/>(I am so fucking screwed).</p>
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